Burnout: conceptual issues and empirical findings from a new research setting

Most research on burnout has been conducted among the helping professions. This article reports findings from a large-scale survey undertaken in a new setting, the off-shore oil industry. The same three components as reported in earlier research, i.e. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and diminishing personal accomplishment were also found here. In addition to these three a further industry-specific component was identified, namely worry about home when absent, which indicates that the dimensionality of the burnout construct may be affected by characteristics of the work setting. Demographics included in the study to characterize persons reporting symptoms of burnout were found to possess neglible descriptive and predictive power. Some implications of the findings are considered, and avenues for further research indicated.